The Grasley bros use their 13 antique tractors to pull a really heavy sled (7 photos)

At one time Jim had eight or nine, his twin-brother John now has five, and Richard has loads of them scattered about his yard.

“But ask him how many he's got running,” said John.

Four of them run.

The Grasley boys, all in their mid-late 60s, are into antique tractors and running them in tractor pull competitions.

Tractor pulls are competitions that measure how far tractors can drag a heavily weighted sled.

Whatever tractor pulls the sled the furthest, wins.

The three Grasley brothers were at the 2017 Laird Fair Antique Tractor Pull on Saturday.

The brothers got into tractors around 2000 when Jim bought his uncle’s old tractor.

“Something to do I guess,” said Jim. “At the time, it seemed like something cheap to get into — but tractors don’t end up cheap. It’s something you can spend three, four, or five thousand dollars on real quick.”

Shortly after Jim got into the hobby his brothers followed.

Richard had loved taking his grandson on Jim’s tractors in local parades and decided to get one himself.

“They turn into money pits,” said Richard. "You're always fixing stuff."

The brothers don’t just ride one or two tractors, they find them at scrap yards and old farms and fix them up.

Since 2000 they went a bit tractor-crazy and bought dozens of them but now, between the three of them, they’ve managed to whittle it down to only 13 tractors.

Their oldest is Richard's 1939 Allis-Chalmers Model B and their most modern is John's 1978 International 574.

“Back when I worked for John Deere, I went on a service call,” said Jim, talking about how he found his 1955 International 300. “It was in pretty rough shape. I asked what he’s doing with it and he said his wife told him to do something with it so he was going to give it away. I told him I don’t want something for nothing so I gave him $100 for it.”

The 2017 Laird Fair also had a poultry show. Jeanette Wessell's Serama Rooster 'Hemi' took Best in Show for that breed. Wessell called the rooster Hemi because 'It's loud, he's loud too'. Jeff Klassen/SooToday

John’s grandson Mitchell Parr is also getting into tractor pulls and was at the Laird event this weekend.

“I’m the only one my age that does it,” said Mitchell, 16. “You learn a lot of stuff you don’t learn elsewhere. 99 per cent of people nowadays don’t know how to drive standard. I’ve known how to do it since I was eight years old.”

It isn't stopping at Mitchell either. 

Wives and granddaughters are also involved, sometimes just as score keepers or other other event-help.

Kierra Grasley, 13, remembers her grandfather John driving her around Echo Bay in a tractor when she was two-years-old.

She said she's excited to get into the hobby — or is it a sport? — in a couple more years. 

The Laird Fair began in the 1880s but stopped in 1957 due to problems of attendance.

It started back up again in 1975 and has run continuously until today.

Roger Fremlin, 82, was director of the fair in the 1950s and 1970s and said tractors pulls have been apart of it back in the 50s.

“That was just the end of the horse era. Tractors weren’t all that plentiful and people weren’t as interested in watching a bunch of old tractors pull. They’d much rather watch horses,” said Fremlin.

While the tractor pull is quite popular, Fremlin said that "20 years ago or more" tractors use to travel from Michigan and Wisconsin to compete.

There were 15 tractors at this year's Laird Fair antique tractor pull.

Tractors were classed as under 2,500 lbs up to 10,000 pounds.

The winner of the 10,000 lb class this year was John's grandson — "another one of them" — Dylan Grasley, 19,  driving John's 1952 McComick WD9.

It was Dylan's first time ever entering the competition.

"It's a different hobby," said Richard.

The complete list of winners for each weight class follows, and, the Grasley brothers clearly dominated the event.

0-2,500 lb class – Richard Grasley – 1939 Allis Chalmers Model B

2,500-3,500 lb class – Richard Gasley – 1951 Allis Chalmers WD

3,500-4,500 lb class – John Grasley – 1953 Farmall Super H

4,500- 5,500 lb class – Jim Grasley – 1954 Farmall M

5,500-6,500 lb class – John Grasley – 1953 McComick Super W6

6,500-7,500 lb class – Kevin Barber – 1954 International Farmall M

7,500-10,000 lb – Dylan Grasley - 1952 McComick WD9

The Laird Fair continues today with entertainment from The Rusty Horseshoes and A Band Named Soo, yard games, horse events and much more.